Two food collections Saturday will help food pantries

PUTNAM — Thanksgiving’s approach is putting a strain on a local food pantry.

Daily Bread, run by the Putnam Interfaith Council, already has 325 families requesting Thanksgiving food baskets and organizers expect that number to grow closer to 360 by the time food distribution takes place Monday.

“There’s more need in the community,” said Kathi Ann Peterson, volunteer coordinator for Daily Bread. “There isn’t a week that goes by that we aren’t seeing new families that have just standard food needs.”

With the need for help growing, the pantry requires more help than ever to keep the shelves stocked, Peterson said.

There are two collections Saturday that will help the pantry prepare its Thanksgiving food baskets.

State, Putnam and Plainfield police will team up this weekend to Handcuff Hunger. The non-perishable food items and turkeys collected at the event will be shared among local food pantries in Canterbury, Chaplin, Danielson, Moosup, Pomfret, Putnam, and Thompson.

In 2011 the Putnam Police Department collected 150 turkeys. Last year they collected 250 turkeys.

Collection will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Price Chopper and Stop & Shop in Putnam, Aldi’s and Stop & Shop in Dayville and Better Val-U stores in Canterbury and Plainfield.

Putnam Chiropractic Center at 245 School St., will host Turkey Day. Existing patients who bring a turkey to the center will get a free visit. The donations will go to Daily Bread.

Dr. Frederick A. Barks, owner of the center, will be on hand with members of Green Valley Blackhawks football team from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Canned goods and cash donations will also be accepted.

“I consider myself very blessed to be able to help our neighbors during times of need,” Barks said.

Donations have already started. On Nov. 5 many voters participated in the “Fill the Tote When You Vote” initiative. Daily Bread received nearly $1,900 in non-perishable food donations and $1,061.97 in cash.

Peterson said baskets will be picked up between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday. The Thanksgiving Baskets require a large amount of food, she said.

And the need continues after the holidays are over, she said.

Daily Bread gave out more than 9,000 meals in September and 7,395 meals in October. Peterson said often it’s not the same families month after month. She estimates the pantry serves between 225 and 240 families each month, which easily totals more than 600 people. She said if every family came in every month, Daily Bread would serve well over 300 families.